Music

In the area of music artist and copyright examinations, our staff have considerable experience in and around record and publishing companies, either as specialised auditors or “on the inside” as royalty accountants, royalty systems specialists or internal auditors. In the mass of information that auditors can be given, the key is having the experience to know where to look amongst it all, to be able to see the wood despite the trees, in order to carry out an efficient and cost-effective audit.

Royalties of various kinds can also travel a long way before they get to your royalty statement, going from one company or collecting society to another, possibly with hitches, delays, “black holes” or undue deductions along the way. Therefore, our knowledge of these pathways can also be vital to the performance of a worthwhile audit. In many cases, errors are unintentional oversights or the consequence of “the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.”

In some cases, the resources of a royalty department may not be capable of performing the correct calculations for technical, logistical or even cost reasons and, even when this problem is known, it takes an audit to get the calculations right and the difference to be paid over. As resources are squeezed in music and entertainment businesses all around the world and outsourcing and increased staff turnover see the involvement of less specialised and experienced staff, it makes more and more sense to undertake audits of royalties from wherever they may come.